Through out history one of the driving forces of the human race was the search for something that world restore youth and keep us from aging. So far there is nothing that works. Sure maybe you can add a few years to your life by doing certain things and eating certain ways but this is certainly not a fore gone conclusion. There are many adds on the internet and in some magazines and weekly tabloids for drugs, creams, vitamins and other things that are supposed to add to longevity but most of these things either do nothing, or in some instances, may be harmful if combined with prescription drug use. Even some prescription drugs are harmful with combined with others. Even the most seemingly harmless of things can cause problems. For example, it was found recently that grapefruit when taken with some drugs made the drugs much more potent.

The Chinese have started a program of collecting blood samples in a part of China that is know for longevity. The project is being conducted by the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Science. The criteria seems to be that the people must be at least 90 years old. By the end of June this year they had collected over 150 samples including 30 from people over 100 years old. The region the academy is working in is known as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region It was selected because it had over 1,450 people over 100 years old in the year 2,000 and the numbers seem to be increasing. It is hoped that genetic research will show the differences in the genes with longevity and the normal gene, thus giving scientists and idea why some people live longer and hopefully a clue in improving longevity.

A researcher at the California Institute of Technology, Mr Seymour Benzer along with his colleagues have been able to modify the longevity genes of fruit flies and increase their life span. They isolated longevity candidate genes and found that they could modify two genes known as hsp26 or hsp27 to extend life span.

Not everyone agrees with what is good for us and what is not good. Some scientists like Caleb Finch and his colleagues think that eating meat made us live longer. "Meat contains cholesterol and fat, not to mention potential parasites and diseases like mad cow," says researcher Craig Stanford. "We believe humans evolved to resist these kinds of things. Mad cow disease—which probably goes back millions of years—would have wiped out the species if we hadn't developed meat-tolerant genes." Could it be that only eating what we think is good and not eating meat would eventually lead to a decrease in life span for future generations?

A group of Russian scientists from the Russian Academy of Science announced that they have invented a solution that can reverse aging up to 20 years. They claim that this can be accomplished using macrophages. Macrophages are a certain type of fat cell that eats other dying cells. The scientists say that this process will soon be available and people will not only feel younger but their appearances will look younger. But how can using macrophages accomplish this? The scientists state that because macrophage cells decrease dramatically by mid age this effects the tissue and organs. Increasing the amount of macrophages will be the key. Stem cells will be necessary for the new vaccine.

Why has longevity increased in the U.S.? One of the main reasons for this is the progress in drugs. We have managed to cure many infectious diseases that would have killed us. We have also improved treatments for some cancers and heart aliments. Heart disease deaths are down a whopping 50% from 1960. We seem to be getting better drugs and better early detection of illness. But a problem has arisen in this country and that problem is that vast amounts of people can no longer afford medical attention because that have lost their health plan and their job and the price of health care is just too much for them to handle. Will we be able to continue the improvement in this nation's health? Another problem is will people outlive the value of their pensions, in other words will people get to live so long that the pension they receive won't have any purchasing power anymore?

Lets hope that things continue to improve in the health field and the average person gets to live and enjoy a life where they reach at least 100 years of age. Ponce De Leon never found the fountain of youth. Maybe that fountain is within us.